Flow Is a secret

not easily apparent

but instinctual.

Isn’t that something the reader does? The reader is the one who needs to know how to scan the page and produce the correct sounds, all while keeping a flow to produce continuity. We work together, the writer and the reader. Writer writes great prose, interesting and grammatically correct with just a bit of the writer’s voice. Reader participates in the flow by bringing the prose into their own (and possibly other’s) consciousness.

Um, sort of.

[An aside. From now on when I speak of a cyclist, I am speaking of a bicycle rider. I have very little experience with motorcycles beyond the Honda 50cc mini-bike I rode in my teens. Please think bicyclist when you think of me and read my writing.]

There is a phenomenon in cycling we refer to as pedaling squares. Remembering that pedals are mounted to crank arms which are traveling on bearings in a bottom bracket. Hence, the pedals go around and around – circles. If the chain is removed, it is fun to spin the pedals and watch them fly around in perfect circles. You might call it meditative. But now we are digressing to why cycling is such an attraction.

Back to the squares. When legs are taxed beyond current abilities they tire and revert to simple straight line movement. Mash down, scrape back, jerk up, and throw forward. The rider can feel the stilted motion, but is unable to produce the smooth circular motion. Essentially they are exhausted. The legs cannot manage the circular flow, but simple straight line efforts.

When we ask too much of the reader, they revert to word calling or parsing at best. At worst, they focus so intently on each syllable or phonetic sound that they are taken completely outside the text. Don’t send your reader away!

Start with your rough draft and ignore any rules you have. Just get the ideas down. Focus on your message and write from the heart. This is what I call writing with the door closed. No one is looking over your shoulder and you are free to plop any word in any order. While you are at it, add more than one word for descriptions. We are not writing for fluency at this point. Make sure you get everything about your message written down.

Now that you have the message, we massage. Smooth out the rough spots and shine up the grammar. The basics elements are always there, spelling and grammar are the building blocks. If a word is misspelled or punctuation is missing, the reader’s clues are not there. It is easy for them to get lost. A lost reader is not a fluent reader – it is a message that never gets heard.

What do you want the reader to come away with? What is your main message? Now go back and take out anything that is a rabbit trail taking your reader outside the text. Pare it down to your goal. If that sentence is simply too good to throw away, but it is not on topic, copy it down for another piece.

Remember picture books? Sitting at the feet of the librarian or teacher we would raptly listen, awaiting the big reveal. The picture in the book would play back what had just been read aloud. You need to illustrate your message with word pictures. Metaphors, analogies, and examples will help give your reader checkpoints and benchmarks. Of course, too much illustration and the reader feels underappreciated. More on that in a bit.

Pacing is another key to producing fluent text. In cycling, it is difficult to maintain an extremely high cadence for a long time, conversely it is difficult to push really hard at a low cadence for a long time (like when climbing a steep hill). In order to avoid pedaling those squares, we learn to spread the work over different muscle groups and to apply tempo changes. A steady cadence of 80-90 rpm (revolution per minute) is ideal. On a flat course, you want to shift up or down to vary rpm to provide that change of pace. Give the fast twitch (speed) muscles a chance to rest while the slow twitch (strength) to take their turn.

How do we change pace in writing? Note the first sentence in the next paragraph. Short but sweet it allows the reader’s subconscious to rest a moment before the next work. In fact, you may notice my second paragraph was one extremely short sentence. That is the work of pacing.

All set? Now read it aloud to yourself. Reading a piece out loud is the single best editing tool. Period. Listen to yourself as you read. Did you add a word that wasn’t on the page? Write it in and consider adding it. Was there a place where you hesitated? Why? Look at that text and figure out what might smooth it out.

Is this a really important text? Have someone else read it. Better yet, have them read it out loud to you. Get their input at the end. How did it feel to them? They can tell you if they think all the sentences make sense and are necessary.

I’ve just changed the pace of my public sessions. Last Tuesday I was at Trek Bicycle Store Racine (Hwy 11). I am back at Vintage & Modern Books on September 2. Stop in, I just might have some tasty snacks. We can chat about fluency. Swallow first.

—Christy Hoff, Writer-in-Residence